MAJOR LEAGUES
The Baltimore Orioles made it six straight series victories with a 2-1 win at Toronto on Thursday, boosting their lead in the American League (AL) East division to five games and knocking the Blue Jays out of outright second place.
Toronto dropped into a share of second with the New York Yankees, who downed Detroit in a one-run game.
Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY
Elsewhere, the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the crosstown Angels for the third straight game to build their lead in the National League (NL) West over San Francisco, who lost to a Milwaukee team that maintained their narrow lead in the NL Central.
Baltimore’s Caleb Joseph homered for the fourth consecutive game as the Orioles notched their 35th road win of the season — the best in the AL.
O’s starter Miguel Gonzalez (6-6) allowed only a homer leading off the fifth inning, but nothing else over his six innings, as he improved to 2-1 with a 2.78 ERA over his past seven starts.
Blue Jays starter J.A. Happ (8-6) was an undeserving loser, having struck out a career-high 12 in a season-best eight innings.
Dodgers pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin threw seven scoreless innings to guide the blue half of the city to a 7-0 win over the Angels.
Ryu (13-5) was brilliant in allowing just two runners to reach third base.
Hanley Ramirez had a two-run single for the Dodgers, who won the Freeway Series for the first time in eight years and disappointed what was the Angels’ biggest crowd in 16 years.
The Angels managed just two runs over the final 24 innings of the series and fell three games behind Oakland atop the overall major league standings.
Milwaukee’s Wily Peralta became the majors’ first 14-game winner by steering the Brewers to a 3-1 win over San Francisco.
Peralta (14-6) struck out a career-high nine in 6-2/3 innings. He gave up one run, while improving to 10-1 over his past 12 starts.
Milwaukee jumped in front with two runs in the sixth: Khris Davis doubled in Aramis Ramirez, and Mark Reynolds had a sacrifice fly.
New York’s Shane Greene capped a series of fine starting pitching by guiding the Yankees to a 1-0 win over Detroit.
Greene (3-1) pitched into the ninth inning for the first time in his career before being relieved by David Robertson, who induced Miguel Cabrera to bounce into a double play and got Don Kelly to line out to shortstop with a runner on third to complete New York’s fifth win in six games.
Stephen Drew’s RBI double was the only extra-base hit and produced the only run of the game.
Oakland’s new signing Jon Lester pitched his fourth career shutout to lead the Athletics to a 3-0 win over Minnesota.
Lester (12-7) was making his second start for the A’s and struck out eight, while allowing only two runners past first base as he completed his 11th career complete game.
Stephen Vogt homered to help Oakland become the first team in the majors to reach 70 wins.
Washington’s Bryce Harper hit a two-run homer in the 13th inning to lift the Nationals to a 5-3 win over the New York Mets, opening a season-high 4.5-game lead in the NL East.
The Nationals were scheduled to take that margin over second-place Atlanta into a three-game series at the Braves starting yesterday. Atlanta were coming off a 0-8 road trip.
Harper’s shot beyond left field against Carlos Torres (5-5) was only the fourth homer of an injury-plagued season for the 2012 NL Rookie of the Year.
Pittsburgh’s Edinson Volquez gave up just one hit in seven innings to steer the Pirates to a 7-2 win over Miami.
Volquez (9-7) did not allow a hit until the fifth, while opposing pitcher Dan Jennings received a nasty blow to the head off a line drive by Jordy Mercer in the seventh. He fell to the ground, but was later able to stand and get into a cart that took him from the field.
Rookie Gregory Polanco drove in four runs for Pittsburgh.
Cincinnati’s Homer Bailey pitched seven scoreless innings to end his three-game skid against Cleveland and lead the Reds to a 4-0 win over the Indians.
Seattle’s Roenis Elias held Chicago hitless over the first four innings to set up the Mariners’ 13-3 win over the White Sox.
St Louis’ Adam Wainwright pitched seven innings for his 14th win, matching Milwaukee’s Wily Peralta for the major league lead, and led the Cardinals to a 5-2 win over Boston.
Kansas City’s Jeremy Guthrie retired the final 19 batters as he became the first Royals pitcher to throw a complete game this season, leading the hosts past Arizona 6-2 to complete a three-game sweep.
Philadelphia’s Ryan Howard hit a grand slam in a five-run rally in the eighth inning which yielded a 6-5 win for the Phillies over Houston.
Chicago’s Javier Baez hit two more homers — making it three in as many days since making his majors debut — and drove in four runs, leading the Cubs to a 6-2 win over Colorado.
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